ESPN’s Bill Simmons, in pointing out the lameness of the WNBA, once encouraged readers to try this experiment: Go up to an average sports fan in a WNBA city and ask him which of these things he would rather happen: his WNBA team wins the world championship, or he finds a $5 bill on the ground.
I would bet most sports fans wouldn’t pass up an easy fin to get a WNBA title. However, this hypothetical got me to thinking: I wounder what response you’d get from asking the same question to fans about their favorite college football team. In fact, knowing what I know about college football fans, what I really wonder is how much cash it would take to get the fan to choose found money over the national championship.$100? $500? Here in Alabama, my guess is that the average number would have to be well north of $1000.
So how ’bout it, all you hard-core boosters? If I gave you a choice between finding [blank] dollars, and your team winning the national championship, how much money would have to go in the [blank] for you to take it?
One may never know until actually confronted with the opportunity. I would like to think that my sense of Alumni Spirit would win out until the amount reached that of a car loan or home mortgage. But you have to take into account just how much bragging rights are worth to you because that is part of what you would be paying for.